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NEWS maltatoday | WEDNESDAY • 26 JUNE 2019 2 CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 The conflict transpired from Pace's interest as a co-owner in the Swieqi branch of prop- erty agents Remax, which was advertising apartments in the project. In the judgement the court referred to the testimo- ny of Remax director Michael Bonello who said that any agent of the company was en- titled to a commission when- ever a property included in the agency's database is sold, even if he was not directly in- volved in its advertising. But Pace disagrees with this court's interpretation, insist- ing that the court judgement in question appears to have been based on "evidence given by third parties" which in his opinion is "factually incorrect". He promises to clarify fur- ther "at the opportune mo- ment". "I will therefore refrain from expressing my views on this judgement other than point- ing out that I was never a party to this case, was never invited to testify and therefore it is evident I was subjected to judgement without having been given an opportunity to clarify my position." But despite his misgivings Pace is committed to respect this judgement. "I will most definitely re- spect this judgement, which says I should not have partici- pated in the vote in question. However, the Judge made it very clear that my business in- volvements at the time did not preclude me from continuing my present role at MEPA," Pace said, adding that there- fore he will not be tendering his resignation from the PA Board. When asked whether he had ever raised the potential conflicts transpiring from his business involvements before the fateful decision on the DB project, Pace replied that his business involvements were disclosed in full as per stand- ard procedure. "This shows that throughout this process I always acted in good faith and in a transparent manner." On Monday, planning min- ister Ian Borg urged Matthew Pace to "respect" the court de- cision – without actually de- manding that he resign. "Well, I haven't received any resignations whatsoever. I al- ways say that everyone, be it me myself, the government, the public, or anyone, should always respect any court deci- sion, even Matthew Pace," the minister said Pace did not reply to Malta- Today's questions on whether he has discussed his position on the PA board after the court judgement with Plan- ning Authority officials. How court qualified Pace's conflict Mr Justice Mark Chetcuti decreed that Matthew Pace's conflict of interest transpired from his potential financial interest in the success of the DB project. This is because together with his partners in Remax he stood to gain from commissions from the sale of a part of the development, which the firm had advertised. But while confirming his conflict of interest in this case, the judge also concluded that Pace was not precluded from serving as a board member because of his involvement in the real estate sector but should have recused himself in cases where he stood to gain financially. The court said that Matthew Pace had a specific impedi- ment, aimed at a particular project in which he had a monetary interest, "which if not actual was certainly po- tential and this in a realistic, not hypothetical way". Pace could not decide on a project in which he had such a potential interest in its ap- proval. This led to a lack of "subjective impartiality" on Pace's part, said the court. Moreover the court decreed that irrespective of how small Pace's interest was in compar- ison to the size of the project, "the public perception is that his (Pace's) personal interest conditioned his vote" and in the eyes of the public he ap- peared biased due to the sim- ple association made between his vote and the sale of apart- ments in the same project. In this way he was not fulfill- ing the expectation of "neu- trality" expected from him in his role as a board member. The court not only rep- rimanded planning board member Mathew Pace for not recusing himself, but also rapped the Environment and Planning Review Tribunal, which had previously exoner- ated Pace for contributing to "a perception of complacency towards the lack of impartial- ity on the PA board". In the original appeal before the Environment and Plan- ning Review Tribunal, Pace was exonerated. The tribunal had noted that advertising was done by different estate agents. On the basis of this the tribu- nal concluded that the fact "that Pace had an interest in one of these agencies did not put in doubt his impartiality or create a conflict of interest". According to the Develop- ment Planning Act, no mem- ber of the Planning Board can be appointed if they have a "fi- nancial or other interest in any enterprise or activity which is likely to affect the discharge of his functions as a member of the Planning Board". Matthew Pace will not resign from PA board despite conflict of interest in high-rise decision The court found Matthew Pace to have a conflict of interest as a co-owner in the Swieqi branch of property agents Remax, which was advertising apartments in DB Group's City Centre project NATIONALIST Party MP Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici will face off against Grahan Bencini for president of the administrative council after nominations closed today. Mifsud Bonnici has backed Adrian Delia, while Bencini has supported the move to oust the PN leader. Bencini leads the PN's forum for pro- fessionals. The contest is widely viewed as a test of the PN leader's strength in the ex- ecutive committee, where the election will take place. The post of president for the PN executive committee will be contested by Graziella Attard Previ and former PN leadership contender Alex Perici Calascione. Attard Previ was backed by the party leadership for the Sliema local election last month. Perici Calascione adopted a nuanced stance in the wake of the PN's disas- trous result but was seen as the favourite of the Simon Busuttil faction during the 2017 leadership campaign. Charles Selvaggi is uncon- tested for the post of treas- urer. The elections will be held on Thursday 4 July, during a meeting of the executive committee at PN headquar- ters. The posts became vacant after the resignations of Da- vid Stellini from administra- tive president, Mark Anthony Sammut from executive pres- ident and David Camilleri from treasurer. PN internal elections will pit Delia's backers against detractors Clockwise from top: Graziella Attard Previ, Alex Perici Calascione, Graham Bencini, and Carm Mifsud Bonnici

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